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http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/20/exclusive-tiered-data-plans-headed-to-verizon-july-7-packages-start-at-30-for-2gb/#more-37272 All I have to say is if they don't let me keep my current unlimited data and upgrade to a 4G phone, I will be leaving Verizon this year after 10 years. $30 for 2gb is a loving insult and there's really not even much point in getting a 4G phone then. Netflix would chew through that amount of data in no time flat.
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Jun 20, 2011 18:07
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Marketing Shill posted:I am gonna quote this because I knew people would start with the freak out once tiered data was announced. If you look at the droid life article they updated and said it looks like existing customers are fine and still can upgrade devices and not lose unlimited data. I don't think it's time to curse Verizon and plan on murdering their babies just yet. The rates are still utter bullshit no matter what. Data is costing them less and less over time but they are charging us more and more. Their latest commercial for the revolution touts the netflix playing capabilities, but you'll be over your quota after a few hours of playback under those plans. I could have stomached $30 for 5gb, but $30 for 2gb is beyond the pale. Aurium posted:As some other people have said, you can use your upgrade early. Naturally you won't get a bionic though. Sorry, no, I'm not going to stand on my head to try to get service with a decent device at an acceptable price (never mind the fact that I can't upgrade until after this date anyways.) They either let me upgrade to any phone I choose and keep my unlimited plan, or I walk. Plain and simple.
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Jun 20, 2011 20:46
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http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/verizon-tiered-data-plans-coming-july-7-starting-at-30/quote:Data Pricing Evolution...The Present Honestly, this doesn't sound encouraging as a far as letting existing customers keep their plan when they renew.
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Jun 20, 2011 21:37
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You know what I would have been 100% fine with? 2gb at LTE speeds and then throttled down to 3G speeds with no overage cost.
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Jun 20, 2011 22:45
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ExcessBLarg! posted:I'm not really sure what to think. Except that if even 10% of Verizon subscribers listened to Internet radio from 9-5 every day the network would definitely be over capacity. I definitely think it's fair for "you" to pay more for data than someone who is extremely frugal and keeps his usage under 500 MB a month. Well, yeah, the biggest issue is the tiers involved. If they want to do tiering, at least have it make some sort of sense. There's no use case for 2gb of data. If all you do it occasionally hit web pages and update facebook, you are going to be under even 500mb. If you stream content in any way shape or form for any appreciable amount of time, you will blow through that cap like nothing. I would consider this "fair" even though it would cause my bill to go up. $15 500mb $40 5gb (with no additional charge to tether but no additional data allowance either), overages handled by throttling down to 1mbps. $60 unlimited mobile with 2gb tethering included
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Jun 20, 2011 23:08
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Ok, here's some stats for you. I monitored a 22 minute episode of Arrested Development from netflix over 3G. I did it at my house because I pretty much get ideal EVDO speeds here to make sure netflix isn't scaling back the quality. That 22 minute episode took 51mb. That doesn't sound like a lot right? One hour of streaming would take approximately 140mb. 2gb (so allowing for not other data use) would mean 14 hours of streaming. Wow, that sounds like a lot. But remember this is per month. To put this in perspective, if you just watched an hour long episode of something on your lunch break at work, you would only make it through 14 business days. That's also with no other network use. So, that's utter crap. You can't tell me that streaming 1 hour of video a day could be considered "heavy" use for phones with 4.3 inch screens, kickstands, and 20mpbs internet connections.
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Jun 21, 2011 05:17
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Oh I hope this info is accurate. http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/21/current-verizon-customers-wont-be-affected-by-tiered-data-only-new-customers-and-lines/
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Jun 21, 2011 16:46
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Marketing Shill posted:There has been a whole lot of retard alarmist poo poo in the thread by you dude. Why didn't you think it would work like it does on AT&T where existing customers are grandfathered in with their unlimited data? Because Verizon has a history of forcing you on to new plans if you want to upgrade devices. Mighty Horse posted:
Too bad I can't because my upgrade is after July 7th. Their loss, if they won't let me go 4G and keep unlimited data, I'm no longer a customer. Since my VZW account is bundled with my FIOS, I may have to re-evaluate packages there as well...
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Jun 21, 2011 17:32
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The Bionic isn't going to see the light of day till mid August, it's not even in user testing yet. The Droid 3 is likely going to launch that week. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Jun 21, 2011 |
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Jun 21, 2011 18:39
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Hamburglar posted:People are probably talking about switching to Sprint is my guess. I don't think anyone would consider AT&T over Verizon. Right, Sprint would be the carrier to switch to. I know their coverage isn't as good as Verizon on the whole, but I have several friends with Sprint devices without any real issues in the Pittsburgh area so it would probably work for me. quote:This is what I'm a bit worried about, too. I'm probably going to order a 4g phone (drat it...none of them are remotely desirable to me) right before they switch just to be ultra safe. I may go to a store in the next few days and see if I can't get them to upgrade me early (I'm due July 12th). If not, I may buy a thunderbolt at full retail after July 1st and "return" it after my upgrade comes due and I can get a subsidized one. It'll cost me $35 to do that, but it may be worth it if I otherwise wouldn't be locked into unlimited 4g.
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Jun 22, 2011 15:32
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yamdankee posted:Wouldn't renewing your contract for a subsidized phone be considered a change in your contract and lose your unlimited data? No, a contract renewal doesn't actually have to change the features on the account. The info so far is that renewals/upgrades will not change the state of your data. The problem, apparently, is that 3G and 4G data are represented by different feature codes in the back end even though they have the same price right now. The feature code for unlimited 4G is going away with the feature code for unlimited 3G after July 7th so the presumption is that you won't be able to be switched to unlimited 4G after July 7th. Now, it's possible that something else may happen that makes this moot. Verizon may decide that the feature codes for unlimited 3G and 4G may mean the same thing after the 7th or they may automatically change all legacy data accounts to a new feature code to represent legacy unlimited data. No one knows at this point. By switching to a 4G phone before that point, even at full price, it will change the feature code on the account to be 4G data which should stick with the account through subsequent renewals/upgrades (until Verizon decides you need a new data feature code for a specific device.) Now, Mighty Horse is saying that you absolutely must have a 4G data on your account before the 7th to retain 4G unlimited. I've seen indications on Howardforums of the opposite with techs telling people that it doesn't matter if you have 3G or 4G data now, you'll be free to upgrade to a 4G phone later an not lose it. Unless Verizon releases an official statement (and they haven't even made the pricing official at this point), we won't know the true case until after someone tries after the 7th. At any rate, the most I stand to lose is $35 if I were to buy a thunderbolt at full retail before the 7th. If I go in on the 12th and they tell me I'll lose unlimited data if I upgrade, I'll just return the thunderbolt, switch back to my droid, and then go to a Sprint store to port. The other question I have is if you decided to switch back to a 3G phone after the 7th. Will your account retain the unlimited 4G data or will they force you to change the feature to 3G data and lose unlimited? bull3964 fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 15:52
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ExcessBLarg! posted:Shored up your plan there a bit, bud. Actually, i wouldn't port right away since I would only be 20 months into my contract and would have to ride out till september to leave. But, that brings me to my second point. If buying a thunderbolt before the 7th isn't enough to lock me into unlimited 4G, what use would the remaining 4 months of the contract be to anyone else?
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Jun 22, 2011 16:14
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serewit posted:The great part about all of the crying about tiered data is that they're probably going to do the same thing they did back when they switched from ACII to NW pricing - hard cutoff dates on feature/phone pairs. Basically, when they mandated data plans for certain phones, they set it up so that any phone sold/introduced after the cutover date had to have the mandated plan even if the phone was originally not required to have data or if the user had an old data plan (like the old... ugh, what was it, premium plus or whatever) The day I'm forced in to a ridiculously low cap for the same price is the day I leave Verizon, period. If I can put that date off with minimal amount of fuss I will for the time being. The tiers that they are putting into place are untenable for even the next year. It's going to be the pay as you go data fiasco of a few years ago where parents are slapped with $50 overage charges from their kids streaming netflix and music. 2gb is simply not enough for anything other than email and occasional web browsing. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 16:54
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Endor posted:
Read what I posted about netflix. Netflix only became available on android a few months ago. Netflix is not a 'goon' application. Netflix is currently the single largest source of internet traffic representing 22% of all traffic. People are going to be using netflix more and more on their phones as more devices are supported. Data usage on smartphones has doubled from Q1 2010 to Q1 2011 and we are just getting STARTED with video streaming and video chat. Realize that a half hour of streaming netflix a day will exhaust the 2gb data cap before the month is over. Quit being apologetic to Verizon. This is a money grab plain and simple. 2gb was chosen to give people enough rope to hang themselves with and either charge them overages or "save them money" by making their plan $50 for 5gb. If verizon was actually concerned about spectrum use and congestion on towers they would be moving to a cap and throttle scheme rather than a cap and overage. This is the same poo poo they did to us with text messaging. They raise the price little by little until even if you don't USE the feature often, it costs you less to buy a bigger bucket than a smaller one and pay the overage. Above all, this stuff should not be getting more expensive as time goes on, it should be getting less expensive. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 18:05
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ExcessBLarg! posted:While I personally prefer throttling, this isn't something entirely new. Voice plans have always been about buckets and charging obscene rates for overages. There's an argument that if you're at your limit and you need more high-bandwidth data, you'd be far more willing to pay overages than to suffer a throttle. But as we all know, in reality, it's to send four-figure bills to oblivious parents of Netflixing teens or something. I would argue though that nothing new has exactly come to the art of general conversation that would cause people to spend double to 3 times the amount of time on the phone over the next year. Also, use of voice minutes is explicit. I have to either make a call or decide to pick up a call. My phone's use of data is not. Short of forcing it into airplane mode whenever I'm not using it, any number of things can fire off in the background to make me passively consume data. Even putting the phone on wifi when avaliable isn't a solution because android hasn't exactly been great at not falling back to a cell signal when the phone is sleeping even if you tell it not to. quote:Actually I'm not sure this follows, at least, not right now. Verizon is dumping a lot of capital into a nationwide LTE network. That takes some serious funding. So does the rollout of FIOS, but my bandwidth has increased a few times in the 3 past years I've had the service with nary a mention of capping and no real increase in price.. In fact, they've gone so far as to say they never plan on implementing capping. The thing is, Verizon beat out a ton of other interests to secure that LTE spectrum from the government because they have deep pockets. There should be some consumer protection in place to prevent them from turning around and using that spectrum as a club to shake us down for more money. Not that I have any hope of that happening, but it is frustrating. Endor posted:Where exactly was I "quite being apologetic" to Verizon? All I wrote is what I use my phone for on a daily basis, and compared it to the other people I know. Maybe I'm just one of the lucky bastards who upgraded to a new 4G phone at the best possible time... these are just the hazards of the cell phone tech cycle. I didn't mean to sound confrontational, but just because you don't personally use that much data doesn't mean it's gooney to use more than the 2GB cap. 2GB for the same price that we've been paying since the dawn of time for "unlimited" is entirely unreasonable. I wouldn't be nearly as pissed if the cap was something like 5GB, but as I stated before, there is no use case for 2GB. People like you use less than a GB, people who do even casual streaming will top 2GB easily. There is no middle ground. It exists purely to get people to try out these advanced services that the phones were designed for and to hook them into going over. If all I wanted to do on my smartphone was check email and browse a few webpages, I would go back to a featurephone because they are more than capable at this point. In all, cap and overage is going to hold back technology as people are going to be afraid to actually USE their smartphones for anything without being charged out the rear end.
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Jun 22, 2011 18:40
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Here are the full screen shots of all the known verizon information. http://www.androidcentral.com/veriz...roid+Central%29 The 3G -> 4G question is still ambiguous, but the language of what's written there implies that it should be grandfathered in as they do not call out this specifically as an exclusion. "Existing customers can keep their current pricing when renewing or upgrading." Also, it looks like everything is being referred to as "per line" so there's not going to be any pooling for family plans, at least not from this information.
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Jun 22, 2011 20:03
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No, we actually don't, because otherwise those 300mb per month users wouldn't be saddled with a $30 plan. I'm all for pay per use rather than buckets! Lets let all those overcharged casual users shed themselves of that data they will never use. $10 /GB prorated down to the MB. I'm game. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 20:38
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Going from single to family would be a new line on the family plan (I would think) which would mean tiered. Here's something to mull over. If Verizon realistically thought that the majority of their users were going to stay under 2GB for the next two years, why would they have made these changes? If that data usage is going to see little growth, they would have been much better off tacking on a $10 "4G fee" on LTE phones and leaving things as they were. You can see the language in those documents and they are all about upselling. It seems clear that Verizon expects median data usage surpass 3GB in the next two years as the overage makes it very attractive to move to the $50 plan if you exceed 3GB.
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Jun 22, 2011 20:56
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Mighty Horse posted:
Yeah, good luck with that. ActiveSync uses HTTPS. So, unless they are going to start breaking connections with long TTLs (potentially breaking a whole lot of stuff that uses push), there's no way to enforce that.
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Jun 23, 2011 18:21
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Hed posted:Does Verizon still limit GPS ability in their phones without the purchase of a monthly service like VZ Navigator? I keep seeing this on less-techy forums and anything in the news about it seems like it's from 2009. Verizon hasn't locked out GPS on their smartphones for years.
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Jun 23, 2011 19:36
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Forever is a strong term. We'll probably have it until AT&T blinks and takes away the grandfathered data on their network. Then Verizon will phase it out by requiring a new dataplan code on all new devices moving forward. I'm just banking on a big backlash over caps with respect to available services like Hulu Plus, HBO Go, and Netflix over the next two years of my contract so that I won't have to worry about it ever.
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Jun 23, 2011 23:00
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Hamburglar posted:Thanks for the information. I won't really be using Google Navigation because I kind of hate the idea that if someone calls me, Google Navigation won't be able to keep drawing maps (due to Google Navigation downloading data as you move). It's a major reason I use iGo8: all the maps are stored on the SD card. It's only like 1gb for the entirety of the US. a) Google navigation caches your entire route so it's not really using the data connection most of the time unless it has to recalculate b) If you are going with the thunderbolt it's all moot anyways. Since it's an LTE device, you can be on the phone and get 4G data simultaneously. The thunderbolt also supports SVDO which allows you to be on a call and use 3G data simultaneously.
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Jun 24, 2011 17:00
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Hamburglar posted:That's friggin' brilliant! My friend had an Android phone (one of the older Motorola ones with a huge screen) and I remember him being so annoyed when he got phone calls while driving because his GPS wouldn't be able to keep drawing the maps. Good to know they fixed that. Keep in mind there's a different between Google maps and google navigation. If you just had maps open, yeah it won't be able to keep drawing your location as it doesn't really know where you are going and can't precache. However, if you are navigating with the navigation program to a specific destination, it should pre-cache the entire route. I know I've driven though areas of zero signal coverage before using navigation and will still able to follow the route and get turn by turn directions just fine. Hamburglar posted:
The reason why it's not really an advertised feature is, according to verizon, it's not up to their quality standards. Basically, you have an increased risk of dropping the call under those circumstances and coverage of that feature may not be 100% of the 3g coverage area. However, it does exist. Also, google is expected to add a completely offline mode to google maps sometime this year. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Jun 24, 2011 |
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Jun 24, 2011 19:36
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Basically: Buy a thunderbolt if you want 4G and you don't mind kinda bad battery life. Buy the incredible 2 or Droid X2 depending on what you like better if you don't care/can't use 4g. If you want a hardware keyboard, buy any of those phones on July 5th and then exchange it for the Droid 3 (3g only) on July 14th when it comes out. Since you are coming from a dumbphone, you will find the battery life of any smartphone shockingly bad. Just resign yourself that you have to charge it at least once every day. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Jun 24, 2011 |
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Jun 24, 2011 23:16
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I've heard the surest way to be offered an early upgrade is to call up CS and ask these simple words, "What is my current ETF?"
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Jun 25, 2011 04:02
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Dr Dskie posted:Any chance we will be seeing the Droid Bionic released on Verizon before July 7th? Zero chance. It probably won't be out till mid to late Aug.
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Jun 26, 2011 23:14
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Acrolos posted:I know that we all pretty much got the idea that you can upgrade from 3G to 4G and keep unlimited data after the switch, but it looks like VZWSupport on twitter validated it. More confirmation here as well: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...tml#post1601493 quote:More info was posted in our intranet as of 6/25:
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Jun 27, 2011 15:52
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Verizon's coverage map on their site has pretty fine grained info about network coverage. As far as Verizon being able to handle load in general, I was able to get a mostly good signal standing in the middle of The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in DC last fall. 215,000 people in one place and the network still worked. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jun 27, 2011 |
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Jun 27, 2011 19:58
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chupacabraTERROR posted:I was recently in a decently sized Verizon store in LA looking at the trophy and the rep told me that they hadn't sold one yet. I would say this is a pretty accurate gauge of the interest in WP7 on Verizon. http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/297-Windows-Phone-Mobile It's been over a week since the last post, and that was for the Omnia I910. It's MS's own fault. First delay introducing the platform on Verizon then don't bother to raise the bar on specs (dual core, LTE) when they DO finally release a CDMA phone. You need your head examined if you buy a 9+ month old phone on a 2 year contract. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Jun 29, 2011 |
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Jun 29, 2011 14:48
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The biggest issue is they are playing the long game right now and they really can't afford to. There are 10 WP7 devices on the market, only 7 of which are in the US and those are split down carrier lines. Verizon ALONE is currently carrying 21 Android devices. You can do one piece of hardware and one major software release a year if you are Apple. You can't do that if you are a newcomer to the market. There's no excitement about your product and it get stagnant on the shelves and in minds. You don't run a flyer promoting a device you had sitting around the store for the past 6 months unless you are trying to do a closeout. WP7 is slick, it has potential, but the HTC Trophy is not a phone that I would feel comfortable signing a two year contract over. They had a real opportunity here to provide a viable LTE device while all the Android offerings are iffy in that category, but the current hardware requirements from Microsoft don't support LTE, so HTC is held back.
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Jun 29, 2011 16:18
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The latest rumor right now is that the Bionic will be released on July 28th. It's just long enough to prevent anyone who's hopping on board verizon right now to get unlimited data from returning their phone and exchanging it for the Bionic. I'm hopeful, but still unsure if I believe it. I have a feeling we'll be into August before it comes out.
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Jun 29, 2011 18:07
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kitten smoothie posted:Why not get this Amex feature and then pay full price for a Thunderbolt? Then you have six months to return it and claim a subsidized Droid Bionic later. Honestly, you don't even have to do that. Just buy it at costco at full price and they have a 90 day return policy.
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Jun 29, 2011 18:39
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Yeah, it looked like the G2x was going to be great, but it's been fumbled. The Ally on Verizon wasn't anything to write home about either. The Revolution isn't a "with Google" device and is saddled with Bing. Due to the LTE radio, i'm not hopeful for custom roms on that phone anytime soon either. So, really, to me the Revolution might as well not exist right now. It doesn't do anything better than the other two LTE phones that Verizon has and it's had its Google experience screwed with.
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Jun 30, 2011 17:01
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I think I would probably just go with the Incredible 2 in that case. It's just a solid phone with minimal fuss. Even with the "best" battery life on a smartphone, it's going to be a major lifestyle change to move to a smartphone from a dumb phone. You will have to charge daily, no matter what.
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Jun 30, 2011 18:05
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Honestly, the takeaway point is all 3 LTE phones are junk for the most part. I'm just hoping Moto has another OG droid on their hands when the Bionic comes out.
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Jun 30, 2011 20:24
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It looks like the Droid Bionic may have just cleared the FCC. This lends credence to the possible July 28th launch date. http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-droid-bionic-clears-fcc
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Jul 1, 2011 23:47
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dominator posted:I think its still going to be early August, it is just now entering user trials and that typically takes a bit over a month The only thing is the confidentiality on the FCC filing expires the 7th of August. Typically they would want to get it out before that happens. In other news, Droid 3 is out via direct fill on the 7th and all stores on the 14th. http://www.droid-life.com/2011/07/01/exclusive-droid3-launching-july-7-via-direct-fill-hits-all-stores-july-14/ bull3964 fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jul 2, 2011 |
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Jul 2, 2011 01:32
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You can get a Palm Pixi Plus off contract from Newegg right now for $60. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875101038&cm_re=palm_pixi-_-75-101-038-_-Product If you got fast shipping on it, you can probably get it before next Thursday. It's also very possible that you could snag an early upgrade going from a featurephone to a smartphone as well.
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Jul 2, 2011 17:09
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Beowulf LaGrange posted:If I bought the Incredible 2 off of Amazon is there anything stopping me from selling it and purchasing a Bionic off of Craigslist/ebay/etc. when it comes out? Or does the 180 day thing apply to that as well? It shouldn't because it's just the plan that needs to remain uncancelled for the 180 days, it doesn't matter what device is on it right? Yeah, they only care about the plan. So as long as that line remains active, you can sell off that Incredible 2 and buy whatever you want to put on the line. quote:Or maybe I'm confused about the whole thing. I really want to hold out for the Bionic. I currently have a lovely LG Dare with unlimited data that I've been eligible to upgrade since November. But it was confirmed by the VZW support twitter account that I'll be able to keep my contract when upgrading? So I can just sit back , wait for the Bionic to come out and upgrade to it then (at discounted price) and still have the unlimited data plan? No, you need smartphone unlimited data to be grandfathered in. Dumbphone/featurephone unlimited data doesn't count. If you want to get unlimited data but want the bionic (and you don't want to deal with selling phones like above), either buy a really cheap smartphone (new or used) like the palm pixie i linked above or buy a phone from a retailer with a very generous return policy like Costco (who gives you 90 days).
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Jul 2, 2011 21:08
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Cockmaster posted:According to a Verizon salesman I talked with, the grandfathering also won't hold if you upgrade from a 3G phone to a 4G phone (such as what you describe). So if you want the Bionic, you'd have to get a Charge, Thunderbolt, or Revolution. He's wrong. This has been covered so much in the past week and has been cross verified a ton of times.
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Jul 3, 2011 19:46
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